Good Law| Bad Law #89 Is the time now to act on climate change? w/ Steve Harvey & Yolanda Pagano

Aaron Freiwald, Managing Partner of Freiwald Law and host of the weekly podcast series Good Law | Bad Law, is joined by Steve Harvey and Yolanda Pagano of the organization “A Call to the Bar: Lawyers for Common Sense on Climate Change.” A non-partisan group, “A Call to the Bar” is a group designed to encourage lawyers around the country to get involved in the issue of climate change in the hopes of finding solutions.

Both Steve and Yolanda have backgrounds somewhat related to the issue of climate change and global warming. Colleagues in law school, Steve and Yolanda explain that climate change is a universal issue that touches almost all aspects of our lives. With a background in science, Steve’s passion for climate change was reignited after he opened his law firm, Steve Harvey Law, LLC. A general litigator in Philadelphia, Steve’s firm specializes in commercial litigation and he approaches “A Call to the Bar” as both a lawyer and a concerned citizen. Yolanda never practiced law after graduation but forged her path in the accounting and economic sector of one of the country’s largest energy companies. From there, Yolanda’s career expanded to include governmental affairs and environmental departments, she is now leading the global sustainability program for Keystone Foods. Throughout the episode, Steve and Yolanda both advance the idea that climate change is a global problem and should be thought of as such… it is something that affects everyone all the time and will for the foreseeable future.

Aaron, Steve and Yolanda sit down to discuss the importance of addressing climate change as well as the steps necessary to start making a difference. “A Call to the Bar,” is an organization that is of the belief that lawyers will have a strong, integral role in battling climate change, believing that the solution to climate change must be expressed in law. Listen in as the conversation centers around the power of legislation and how, through law, we can mitigate the problems we are facing and react to the affects we are already beginning to see and will continue to see.

Why has nothing substantial happened since the Global Climate Protection Act of 1987? Why, if this is such a concrete, scientific fact, do we see such polarizing partisan lines? Yolanda and Steve address these questions (and others) and offer their solutions, explaining the complexities of the issue and the imperative adaptations that will have to happen in order to transition to a point of acceptance and change.

Check out their conversation to learn more about climate change and why the law matters on this issue., as well as “A Call to the Bar;” find out now how they came up with their name and why climate change is not just an environmental challenge but an economic, social, moral and ethical one.